This blog is about the book 'CONFIDENTIAL: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan.' The biography of a legendary Hollywood producer.
Cover image: Milchan embraces Arafat. A James Bond fan, Arafat thought he was embracing a film producer who had just introduced him to one of the original Bond's, Sean Connery. Arafat never realized he was schmoozing a top Israeli intelligence asset. - SCROLL DOWN:

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal, the FBI released heavily censored files on Arnon Milchan, files that were not scheduled for release until 2036. None-the-less, these files are revealing as to the intensity of the FBI's focus on Mr. Milchan, including memos to the Director of the FBI, keeping him informed of developments in the case. These memos confirm numerous facts detailed in the book Confidential, including the US Attorney's attempt to "flip" Richard Kelly Smyth against Mr. Milchan, an attempt that failed. Smyth of course disappeared shortly thereafter.The sheer amount of material that was censored in these documents is testimony to the sensitivity placed on this entire matter, to this day. Here are a few of the FBI-Milchan files:

07/15/1992: Record of a phone call between a supervisory special agent on Los Angeles and special agent in Portland classified as "secret." The special agent notified LA of impending news media coverage of "an extremely successful movie producer in Hollywood" [Arnon Milchan] noting that his ties to "Oliver Stone, Sidney Pollack, Barbara Streisand, Tom Cruise, Richard Dreyfus and Robert DeNiro. The subjects likely location and wealth "close to $1 billion" and close to "Labor Party officials in Israel" [Particularly Shimon Peres] is noted. Milchan's arms dealing through MILCO and ties to another American are explored in the heavily redacted file.

07/15/1992: Phone call record continues. "On 8/9/1985, two weeks from the trial date of [Richard Kelly Smyth] the U.S. Department of Justice requested Israel to obtain a sworn statement from [redacted] on the same date, US Customs served a subpoena on [redacted] seeking all records of business dealings... On this same date [Smyth] disappeared and a few days later he failed to appear for a motion hearing. As a result his bail was revoked and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is still a fugitive." Details on how an Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) member steered contracts to MILCO. SAB members that invested in and joined MILCO's board of directors. SAB member that worked as an atomic bomb designer at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. "Large volume of the Israeli business at MILCO and whether some of the equipment being sold was sensitive and related to nuclear weapons field."

7/15/1992..."At the time of [Smyth's] disappearance, the US did not have any reliable information that the Israelis were enriching uranium via uranium hexafloride. That information did not surface for another year until an individual named [redacted] detailed drawings and photographs of Dimona, Israel's nuclear research center, to the London Times."

"When they repeatedly asked if proper licenses had been obtained and, on 7/24/1982, they resigned. During January, 1983, MILCO's Huntington Beach offices were burglarized and [redacted] filed a report with the FBI. The FBI advised the US Customs Service of these activities, and during May, 1983, Customs realized that the 'tubes' were actually mentioned highly-restricted krytrons."

During December, 1984, a US Attorney [redacted] began a plea bargaining negotiations with [Smyth] regarding the illegal sales in efforts to get [Smyth] to provide the government with information regarding [Milchan's] illegal activities. These negotiations failed, and in May, 1984, Smyth was indicted on 30 counts of smuggling and making fase statements, based on 15 shipments of krytrons to Israel [Smyth faced the possibility of 105 years in prison]. Notes on individuals involved in Iran-Contra affair, disruption of Iraqi nuclear reactor through sabotage.

2/25/1993: Priority message to the FBI Director and the Los Angeles office that "...during the later part of next week, during an NBC Nightly News broadcast, Tom Brokaw would reveal the background story of...MILCO". Of course, Brokaw and the FBI did not know half of what has since been reveal by the book Confidential, published years later.

3/29/1993: Message distribution to national and international offices. "The enclosed is for your information. If used in a future report, conceal all sources of paraphrase contents...This entire communication is classified SECRET. LA is requested to furnish a communication regarding the status of this pending matter to CI-2F Unit." (Confidential Informant).

4/23/1993: Message to FBI Director. "Enclosed for Los Angeles is one videotaped copy of two installments of NBC Nightly News that highlights some of the information that was provided to the Bureau and Los Angeles..."

11/30/1993: Message distribution to national and international offices. "The enclosed is for your information. If used in a future report, conceal all sources of paraphrase contents... This entire communication is classified SECRET. LA is advised to provide an appropriate UCFN for captioned matter," (Universal Case File Number).

06/05/1996: Open source news database information and "Who's Who in America, 1996" entry on smuggling case. "Case Agent [redacted] has requested that this matter be placed in a closed status at this time."
[Redacted pages]
news clipping, The New york Times, Saturday, May 1985 "Israelis Deny Knowing of Export Bar for Device Usable in A-Bomb", by Thomas Friedman. News clippings The Washington Post, May 15, 1985 "US Asks Israel to Account for Nuclear Timing Devices" by John M Goshko.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The self-described libertarian-leaning website, Antiwar.com, has just posted a stunning new article about Arnon Milchan, which links to an "anti-Israel-lobby corruption" site called "The Israel Lobby archives", where recently released FBI files on the MILCO case have now been posted. Interestingly, these recently released FBI files confirm many of the facts of the case as described in the book Confidential, the Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon, Arnon Milchan.... down to the smallest details. Example:

The FBI file reveals that after the illicit kryton exports were discovered, a U.S. attorney tried to flip MILCO President Richard Kelly Smyth to implicate Milchan during intense plea bargaining. The gambit failed, and in May 1984 Smyth was indicted on 30 counts of smuggling and making false statements. Smyth and his wife promptly fled... remained at large until captured in Malaga, Spain, in July 2001 after Richard Smyth applied for Social Security benefits.

The FBI records reveal ongoing interest in Milchan into the mid-1990s. In 1992, a confidential informant relayed details of Milchan’s ties to Smyth. The declassified but heavily redacted “secret” communications reveal the Bureau’s fascination with Milchan, from his 1996 entry in Who’s Who to A-list associates such as Robert De Niro and an unsavory Iran-Contra operative.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Hollywood mega-producer and former secret agent, Arnon Milchan, has been asked directly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to avoid any public discussion of the book Confidential, asserting that the matter is too sensitive at this time. Confidential, which describes in detail Mr. Milchan's crucial covert contributions to Israel's nuclear program, has been picked up and covered by numerous enemy state-run media outlets, including Iran's Press TV and Syria's news services. The matter has also been covered in Al Hayat,Al Arabiya, Al Jazeerah and many other media outlets across the Middle East. With escalating tensions with Iran over its nuclear program, and the recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, the book Confidential has not been welcomed by Israel's security establishment, particularly as it relates to timing. The extensive media coverage, especially by enemy media, has resulted in a substantial increase in Mr. Milchan's security arrangement's, including extraordinary additional precautions. Confidential co-author, Joseph Gelman, expressed his disappointment, as well as his concern: "Obviously, we are disappointed that Mr. Milchan is unable to speak publicly on these matters at this time, but we also understand that we live in very sensitive times. It is what it is." It should be noted that not a single revelation published in Confidential has been contradicted or even denied. When asked to respond to details raised in the book, President Peres' only response was "the matter is too sensitive to discuss."

NBC News on 'Confidential': "A movie tycoon whose life story itself is a Hollywood movie"

Media Contact Information

July 17, 2011: The New York Times Introduces 'Confidential' to the World: GROUND BREAKING.

Click on image for the full article.

Fox News: "This is a Deadly Serious Book"

Fox News and the New York Times agree on something. Click on the image for the full backstory to the writing of the book 'Confidential' as published by FoxNews.com

Fox News on the 'Confidential' story: "This is a Movie in Itself"

Additional recommended reading:

For a wider understanding of Israel's intelligence services beyond the story of one facinating man, the authors of 'Confidential' also recommend Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman's gripping book 'Spies Against Armageddon'. Click on the image to go to their Amazon page.

CNN on the 'Confidential' story: "Hollywood Execs Will Be Fighting to Get This to The Big Screen"

The Daily Beast on Confidential - The Downfall of a Top Aerospace Scientist

GUT WRENCHING: Arnon and Richard Kelly Smyth go shopping for nuke materials. Smyth is caught...escapes... and 16 years of fear and exile ensue. Click on image for the story.

'Confidential' Co-author Doron Interviews for CBS News:

Author-Signed & Personalized Copies of Confidential Available Only Here:

Contact the Authors of 'Confidential' at 202-440-3050.

Tablet Magazine: The Shocking Milchan-South African Saga

He may have produced '12 Years a Slave' as a measure of redemption, but before that he played a key, controversial and highly secret role in Aparthide South Africa. Click on image for the exclusive details.

Sky News: Arnon Milchan wishes he hadn't denied it.

Milchan's Spymaster Blumberg: "For years I carried a cyanide capsule in case I was caught"

The only known photo of Arnon Milchan's Israeli Intelligence Handler and Trainer (between 1965-1981), LAKAM Chief and Master Spy Benjamin Blumberg. "Milchan was a man I could work with". Click Image for the full story.

Richard (AKA Dr. Jon Schiller) and Emily Smyth, The Owners of 'Milco', a LAKAM Front Company

The fugitive couple who escaped to 16 years of exile in Malaga, Spain, after shipping nuclear weapons triggers (Krytrons) to their long-time business partner/LAKAM handler, Arnon Milchan. Smyth, who was caught, extradited and convicted in the case, blames Arnon Milchan for destroying his life. Click on image for the story.

Krytron - a nuclear trigger

Like in any movie production "It's always the little things that cause the most trouble" - Arnon Milchan

Urenco Nuclear Centrifuge Blueprints...

In the dead of night, Arnon Milchan secured the designs for advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment... click on image for details:

A Fall From Grace - The Smyth mobile home

Once he was one of the most important and respected aerospace engineers in America with a waterfront mansion and a yacht. Today he lives in a little mobile home next to the railroad tracks in Lompoc, CA. Photo by Joseph Gelman. The Authors visited Mr. Smyth at his home as part of the investigative process.

Jonathan Pollard - Also a LAKAM Operative, and also handled by Rafi Eitan in 1985....

Arrested only months after Richard Kelly Smyth fled into exile in 1985 to live as a fugitive on the lam. The Smyth incident/disappearance undoubtedly played a negative role in Pollard's disproportionately harsh treatment... as US authorities were looking at that point to "send a message". Few have understood the connection between the Smyth and Pollard cases, and the time-frame. Pollard still rots in Jail, going on 29 years now.

Top Mossad operative and LAKAM Chief who was forced to resign following the Pollard Affair. Years earlier, Rafi Eitan had personally captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Eitan enjoys sculpting, and one of his sculptures sits in his friend Milchan's living room in his Malibu ocean-front mansion. Click Image for background on Rafi Eitan.

Arnon Milchan's $600,000,000 Art Collection

A less valuable sculpture by his friend Rafi Eitan sits on the living room table.

Arnon Milchan, Moshe Dayan and Leon Uris, the Author of Exodus.

It was Arnon Milchan who brokered the deal between Shimon Peres and Ariel Sharon to create the Kadima Party

Arnon Milchan and French President Jacques Chirac

Standing alongside Milchan with blond short hair is Ase Thastrom, Milchan's former longtime lover who still lives in his Chateau in France, next door to the retired French President.

Peres, Milchan, Netanyahu

The Man in the Middle...in more ways than one

Arnon Milchan, Roman Polanski and Robert De Niro behind a 'Solidarity' sign in Poland

Milchan financed a production of 'Amadeus', the first Western cultural event held in Poland since before WWII. Polanski himself played the lead role. With the fall of Communisim in Poland, President Lech Walesa invited the trio for a Robert De Niro film festival that they organized.

Martin Scorsese directs Jerry Lewis in the 'King of Comedy' As Arnon Milchan looks on

Every Tabloid on the Planet Picks up on the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie 'Confidential' Scoop

The Authors didn't even consider it 'news' when Milchan described to them the behind-the-scenes story of the beginning of Angelina and Brad's relationship, and the break-up with Jennifer Aniston. Apperently the tabloids considered it huge news.

Arnon Milchan and Angelina Jolie

The Secrets of the 'Secret Agents' of Mr. and Mrs. Smith

The Authors of 'Confidential', Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman

Top-notch Investigative Journalism of the 'old school' kind. The stunning Investigation that brought a super-agent in from the cold.